Hand cleanliness

ABSTRACT

Among other things, an entry monitor has circuitry to detect when a person enters a monitored space and an indicator perceptible to other people in the space to indicate a cleanliness state of the hands of the person who has entered the space.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/614,822, entitled Hand Cleanliness, filed Nov. 9, 2009, now U.S. Pat.No. 7,982,619 which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/353,746, entitled Hand Cleanliness, filed Feb. 14, 2006 (now U.S.Pat. No. 7,616,122), which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/157,094, entitled Hand Cleanliness, filed Jun.20, 2005 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,286,057). The disclosure of the priorapplications is considered part of (and is incorporated by reference in)the disclosure of this application.

BACKGROUND

This description relates to hand cleanliness.

Health care workers, food handlers, and others ought to clean theirhands frequently and thoroughly, but they often don't. Better handcleaning habits can be promoted by governmental regulations, companyrules, social pressure, and technology. Techniques that have beenproposed for improving cleaning habits include the use of specialcleaning agents as well as mechanisms and electronic devices toregulate, monitor, and report on how frequently and how effectivelypeople clean their hands.

SUMMARY

In one general aspect, an electronic sensor is configured to be carriedby a person and to be used by the person to detect a cleanliness stateof the person's hands, and a holder for the electronic sensor has astructure to temporarily receive an identification badge of the person.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Thebadge and the holder contain respective communication elements to permitinformation about a cleanliness test performed by the person using theelectronic sensor to be communicated to the badge. The badge includes aunique identifier of the person that can be read electronically.

In one general aspect, an electronic sensor is carried by a person ormounted in a stationary position accessible to a person's hands, and isused by the person to detect a cleanliness state of the person's hands.Circuitry detects and provides an alert when the electronic sensor isnearing the end of its useful life.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Thecircuitry includes a counter of a number of times the sensor is used.The sensor comprises an ethanol sensor.

In one general aspect, the sensor includes a chemical sensor that issensitive to a cleaning material other than ethanol.

In one general aspect, the sensor includes a ceramic sensor for ethanol.

In one general aspect, circuitry counts a number of times a person hasrun a cleanliness test using the sensor.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Acircuit communicates the count wirelessly to a reader for reporting to athird party.

In one general aspect, a storage device is coupled to the sensor tostore information about the frequency, timing, and/or results ofcleanliness measurements performed by the user using the electronicsensor.

In one general aspect, a monitor has detection circuitry to detect apresence of one or more people in a monitored space and reportingcircuitry to report a cleanliness state of hands of the people in themonitored space, based on information provided by one or more sensorsused to sense a disinfecting agent on the hands of the people.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Thedetection circuitry detects the presence of one or more people bywireless communication with a device held on or by the person. Thewireless communication comprises RFID communication. The monitored spacecomprises a room in a health care facility. The sensors are worn by oneor more of the people. The sensors are associated with the monitor. Thesensors sense ethanol. The cleanliness state is reported with respect toeach of the people separately. The cleanliness state is reported toeveryone in the space.

In one general aspect, an entry monitor has circuitry to detect when aperson enters a monitored space and an indicator perceptible to otherpeople in the space to indicate a cleanliness state of the hands of theperson who has entered the space.

Implementations may embody one or more of the following features. Thecircuitry to detect when a person enters a monitored space includes awireless communication element. The indicator comprises a light. Theindicator can indicate a disinfected state and a non-disinfected state.The indicator is set to indicate a non-disinfected state of the person'shands when the person enters the space, whether or not the person'shands are then in a disinfected state. The indicator is set to switch toindicate a disinfected state only after the person successfullyestablishes the disinfected state using a sensor that senses a presenceof a disinfectant. The indicator is set to switch to indicate adisinfected state only after all of the people who have entered the roomhave successfully established the disinfected state using one or moresensors that sense a presence of a disinfectant. The circuitry obtains,from a device worn by the person, information identifying the personuniquely.

In one general aspect, badges worn by people who enter a space containindicia that uniquely identify the respective people who wear thebadges, one or more sensors sense a presence of a disinfectant materialon hands of each of the people, and a monitor detects the presence ofone or more of the people in a space and indicates a cleanliness stateof the people in the space.

In one general aspect, system monitors cleanliness states of hands ofpeople who are moving from space to space in a facility; the systemincludes circuitry to identify each of the people uniquely in more thanone of the spaces of the facility, circuitry to test the cleanlinessstate of the hands of one or more of the people in one or more of thespaces, and to associate the tests with the identities of the people,and a communication network to exchange information about the testedcleanliness of the people in the spaces of the facility from time totime and to provide related reports to a third party.

In one general aspect, on a device that is worn or carried by a personand contains an identifier uniquely associated with the person, a recordis stored of tests performed by the person on a sensor to determine acleanliness state of the hands of the person at a succession of testtimes. In general, in one aspect, the invention features an electronicsensor configured to be carried by a person and to be used by the personto detect a cleanliness state of the person's hands.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Thereis also a device configured (a) to identify the person, (b) to beassociated with the electronic sensor, and (c) to be carried by theperson. There is also a device configured to be associated with theelectronic sensor and to provide an indication of the cleanliness stateof the person's hands. The indicating device is configured to be carriedby the person, and the indicating device and the sensor together arecapable of detecting a cleanliness state of the person's hands andproviding an indicator of the cleanliness state, without requiringcooperation between the apparatus and any device external to theapparatus. There is also a circuit to control how long after the stateof the person's hands has determined to be clean, the state is presumedno longer to be clean.

In general, in another aspect, the invention features a single unit thatincludes an electronic sensor to be used by a person to detect acleanliness state of the person's hands, and a device to provide anindication of the cleanliness state of the person's hands.

In general, in another aspect, the invention features a single unit thatincludes an electronic sensor to be used by a person to detect acleanliness state of the person's hands, and a device to identify theperson.

In general, in another aspect, the invention features a circuit that isconfigured to control how long after a cleanliness state of a person'shands has been determined to be clean, the state is presumed no longerto be clean.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Theelectronic sensor is configured to sense a presence or absence of amaterial indicative of the cleanliness state, for example, a vapor oralcohol. The cleanliness state comprises a disinfection state. Theidentification device comprises a badge. The identification device andthe sensor are part of one unit. The electronic sensor, theidentification device, and the indication device are part of one unit.The unit is configured to be worn by the person. The indication devicecomprises a visible indicator. The circuit comprises a countdown timerthat is triggered in connection with the cleanliness state beingdetermined to be clean. The circuit is part of the unit.

In general, in another aspect, the invention features a badge thatincludes indicia identifying a person who carries the badge, a sensor tobe used to detect a cleanliness state of the person's hands, and avisible indicator to indicate to other people the cleanliness state ofthe person's hands.

In general, in another aspect, the invention features a person using anelectronic sensor carried by the person to detect a cleanliness state ofthe person's hands.

In general, in another aspect, the invention features issuing a signalfrom a circuit to indicate how long after a state of a person's handshas been determined to be clean, the state is presumed no longer to beclean.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a badge.

FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 are schematic plan views of three layers of the badge.

FIG. 5 is a sectional side view of a chamber at 5-5 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a three-dimensional view of a space.

FIG. 7 shows a monitor.

FIG. 8 shows a badge in a badge holder.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a campus of buildings.

As shown in FIG. 1, in some examples, an identification badge 10 worn bya doctor has red and green lights 12, 14, that indicate that her handsare likely to be respectively in a clean (e.g., disinfected, greenlight) condition or in a not clean (e.g., not disinfected, red light)condition. The two lights are controlled by a control circuit (not shownin FIG. 1) based on (a) information derived from an ethanol sensor 16 inthe badge, (b) signals from a timer (also not shown in FIG. 1) thattracks the passage of time after the circuit has determined that thehands are likely to be in a disinfected condition, and (c) the state ofthe logic implemented by the control circuit (also not shown). An LCDdisplay 23 provides displayed information that can include the status ofthe badge, the control circuit, or the sensor; the time; the status ofthe cleanliness of the doctor's hands; and other information.

In addition to providing the disinfection determining function, thebadge 10 can be of a shape and form and can display informationsufficient to serve a conventional function of complying with governmentand institution regulations that require health care workers to carryvisible identification. For example, the badge includes a photograph 17of the doctor, and other information including the doctor's name 19 andidentification number 21. A typical badge could be approximatelycredit-card size.

Because health care workers are required to carry such badges for otherreasons, providing the disinfection determining function within the samebadge make it more likely that the worker will use that function than ifthe function were provided in a separate device that the worker wasexpected to carry separately. In addition, because the badge worn by aworker must be visible to others in the health care environment, thefeature of the badge that indicates whether the user's hands are cleanor unclean will naturally be visible to others. Thus, the worker, merelyby having to wear the badge, will be subjected to social pressure ofpeers, patients, and managers with respect to the cleanliness of theworker's hands. This makes the use of the disinfection determiningfeature of the badge and the improvement of cleanliness habitsself-enforcing. The institution by whom the worker is employed need onlyprovide badges that include those features without directly managing ormonitoring their use.

A pair of electrodes 24, 26 on either side of the sensor is used todetermine when a finger 28 or other part of the hand or other skin hasbeen placed against the sensor. When skin of a finger or other part ofthe hand touches both electrodes, the resistance between them willdecline. By measuring that resistance the control circuit can detect thepresence of a finger.

The badge is used by the doctor in conjunction with disinfecting herhands using cleaners of the kind that include ethanol (for example, theliquid known by the name Purell available from GOJO Industries, Akron,Ohio, and which contains 62% ethyl alcohol). Such cleaners areconsidered to be more effective than soaps and detergents in killingbacteria and viruses and are widely used in health care and otherenvironments. When the ethanol-based cleaner is rubbed on the skin ofthe hands, the ethanol kills the bacteria and viruses. The effect willlast for several hours but eventually wears off. Ethanol is volatile andeventually evaporates from the skin, leaving the possibility (whichincreases over time) that live bacteria and viruses will againcontaminate the skin from the air and from objects that are touched, forexample.

The concentration of ethanol on the skin and the decay of thatconcentration from evaporation tend to determine the onset of subsequentcontamination. In turn, the concentration of ethanol on the skin can beinferred by the concentration of ethanol vapor near the skin. By placingthe skin near an ethanol detector for a short period of time, it ispossible to determine the vapor concentration of ethanol and thus toinfer the ethanol concentration on the skin and the disinfected state ofthe skin. When the current inferred concentration is above a threshold,it is possible to make an assumption about how long the hands willremain disinfected.

The badge can be used in the following way to improve the hand cleaninghabits of the user.

In some simple examples, the badge can be configured to determine anddisplay two different states: disinfected and not disinfected.

Except when the badge has recently enough (say within two or threehours) entered the disinfected state due to a measurement cycle in whichan adequate concentration of ethanol vapor had been sensed, the badgewill assume a default state of the user's skin of not disinfected. Thus,when the badge is first powered on, or reset, or the permitted timesince a prior successful measurement has elapsed, the state becomes notdisinfected. When the state is not disinfected the red light is lit andthe word re-test is displayed on the LCD.

In some implementations, the badge can be made to switch from the notdisinfected state to the disinfected state only by a successful ethanolmeasurement cycle. A successful cycle is one in which a finger or otherpart of the body is held in position over the sensor (touching both ofthe electrodes) for a period that is at least as long as a requiredmeasurement cycle (e.g., 30 seconds or 45 seconds or 60 secondsdepending on the design of the circuit), and the concentration ofethanol vapor that passes from the skin into a measurement chamber ofthe sensor is high enough to permit an inference that the skin isdisinfected.

Thus, when the doctor wipes her hands with the cleaner to disinfectthem, she can then press one of her clean fingers against the sensor 16and the two electrodes 24, 26, for, say, 60 seconds.

Touching of both of the electrodes simultaneously by the finger isdetected by the control circuit which then begins the measurement cycle.The control circuit could start the red and green lamps to flashalternately and to continue to do so as an indication to the user thatthe electrodes are both being touched and that the measurement cycle isproceeding. At the end of the sensing cycle, the control circuitdetermines a level of concentration of ethanol and uses the level todetermine whether the finger, and by inference, the hand of the doctoris disinfected. Each time a measurement cycle has been fully completed,the red and green lights may both be flashed briefly to signal that thecycle has ended and the finger may be removed.

The control circuit continually monitors the electrodes to determinewhen a finger or other skin is touching both of the electrodes. Whenthat event is detected, a measurement cycle count down timer (which isinitialized for the number of seconds needed to complete a measurement)is started. At the beginning of a cycle, a voltage is applied to theheater to begin to heat the sensor element. Initially the heater voltagemay be set to a higher than normal value in order to shorten the initialaction period described below. Then the heater voltage is reduced. Atthe end of the measurement cycle, a measurement voltage is appliedacross the series connection of the measurement cell and the seriesresistor, and the voltage across the series resistor is detected andcompared to a threshold to determine whether the state should be set todisinfected or not disinfected.

When the control circuit determines that the hand is disinfected, thecontrol circuit switches to the disinfected state, lights the green lamp(and turns off the red lamp), and displays the word clean on the LCD. Inaddition, upon the initiation of the disinfected state, the controlcircuit starts a re-test count down timer that is initially set to theperiod during which the skin is expected to remain disinfected (forexample two hours).

If the control circuit is in the disinfected state and the uservoluntarily performs another successful measurement cycle (for example,if, during the two hours after the prior successful measurement, shedisinfects her hands again), the re-test count down timer is reset.

Anyone in the vicinity of the doctor who can see the lights or LCD ismade aware of whether, according to the doctor's use of the badge, thedoctor's hands are disinfected or not. People who find troubling theindication that a person's hands are not disinfected can complain to theperson or to the employer, for example.

During the sensing cycle the doctor must keep her finger against thesensor for at least a certain period of time, say 60 seconds, to givethe sensor and the control circuit time to obtain a good reading. If thedoctor removes her finger before the end of the period, the controlcircuit remains in or switches to the not disinfected state and displaysthe word re-test on the LCD display.

If the doctor holds her finger against the sensor long enough tocomplete the sensing cycle, the results of the sensing cycle aredisplayed on the LCD and by lighting either the red light or the greenlight.

If the sensing cycle ends with a determination that the finger is notdisinfected, the doctor can try again to apply enough of the cleaner toher hands to satisfy the circuit and can test the ethanol concentrationagain. And the cycle can be repeated until the disinfected state isdetermined.

In addition to causing the green light to be illuminated and the LCD toshow clean, successfully completing an ethanol test also causes thecontrol circuit to reset a count down timer (not shown in FIG. 1) to apredetermined period (say, two hours) after which it is assumed that thebenefit of the ethanol treatment has worn off and the doctor's hands areno longer disinfected. When the timer times out at the end of thepredetermined period, the control circuit turns off the green light,lights the red light, and changes the displayed word from clean tore-test. The red light stays on and the word re-test continues to bedisplayed until a successful ethanol test is performed by the doctor.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, the badge 10 can be fabricated byassembling three layers.

A bottom layer 29 (shown schematically in FIG. 2) contains a printedcircuit 31 and components mounted on the circuit. The components includethe sensor element 30 of the sensor, two thin batteries 32, 34, amicroprocessor 36 (an example of the control circuit mentioned earlier),a clock 38 (an example of the timer circuit mentioned earlier that canbe used both for the measurement count-down timer and for the re-testcount-down timer), the two LED lamps 12, 14, and an LCD display device40. The detailed interconnections of the devices mounted on the bottomlayer are not shown in FIG. 2. The control circuit could be, forexample, a PIC microcontroller available from Microchip Technology, Inc.of Chandler, Ariz.

A middle layer (shown schematically in FIG. 3) is thicker than thebottom and top layer and provides physical relief for the componentsmounted on the bottom layer. The patterns shown in FIG. 3 representcutouts 43 or perforations in the middle layer.

A top layer 50 (shown schematically in FIG. 4) includes a non-perforatedand non-printed clear region 52 to permit viewing of the LCD display.Space is left for adding a photograph and other information as show inFIG. 1. A perforated region 54 provides openings for passage of ethanolvapors into the badge and two perforations 56, 58 on opposite sides ofthe perforated region 54 accept the conductive electrodes that are usedto detect the presence of a finger.

As shown in FIG. 5, the arrangement of the three layers in the vicinityof the sensor provides a sensing chamber 56. Ethanol vapors 55 pass fromthe finger 53 through the holes in perforated region 54 (which is shownas narrower than in FIG. 4) and into the chamber. Within the chamber isa tin oxide sensor element 30 (which includes an integral heater). Thesensor element is connected by wire bonded connections 61 to circuitruns 59 on the bottom layer of the badge. The heater heats the vaporswithin the chamber and sensor element measures the concentration ofethanol.

Tin oxide sensors are small, low cost, and relatively low in powerrequirements. An example of a tin oxide ethanol sensor is the Model TGS2620-M available from Figaro USA Inc. of Glenview, Ill., although othersensors available from other vendors could be used.

The sensor includes an integral heater and four connections, two for thesensor element, and two for the heater. By wiring a resistor in serieswith the element and measuring the voltage drop across the resistor, thecontrol circuit can determine the amount of current flowing in theelement and hence the resistance of the element which will vary withethanol concentration.

Tin oxide sensors with heaters are subject to a so-called initial actionthat occurs when the sensors are not energized for a period and then areenergized. The resistance of the sensor drops sharply during an initialperiod of energization, whether gases are present in the surrounding airor not. The longer the period of unenergized storage (up to about 30days), the longer the period of the initial action. Therefore using tinoxide sensors in the badges requires a trade off between powering theiroperation for a period longer than the initial action but not so longthat the energy drain caused by measurement cycles reduces the lifetimeof the battery to an unacceptably short period. Experiments suggest thatif the user keeps her finger in contact with the sensor for at least 20or 30 seconds, the sensing of ethanol then begins to dominate theinitial action and permits detection of the ethanol concentration. Otherapproaches may provide a shorter initial action (such as applying alarger voltage for the first few sections of operation and then thenormal voltage after that).

The badge provides a simple, effective, portable, inexpensive way toconfirm that the ethanol treatment has occurred no longer than, say, twohours ago, which likely means that the hands remain disinfected. Noother external equipment is needed. The disinfection condition isapparent to anyone in the vicinity of the doctor, including patients,supervisors, regulators, and peers. The social pressure associated withbeing identified easily as not having disinfected hands is an effectiveway to improve the frequency and thoroughness of cleaning. The systemdoes not force the doctor to comply. Compliance with cleaning rules andpolicies may remain less than perfect using the badges. Yet it is likelythat the compliance will improve significantly. Any degree ofimprovement translates into reduced costs and injuries now associatedwith hands that have not been disinfected.

A wide variety of other implementations are within the scope of thefollowing claims.

Although we sometimes have referred to use of the system by a doctor, itis also useful for a wide variety of other people, including otherhealth care workers, clean room workers, and guests, consumers, vendors,employees, and other parties involved in any kind activity in whichcleanliness of the hands or other parts of the body is important.

For example, although a simple matching of a measured ethanolconcentration against a threshold can be used to determine simplywhether the state should be disinfected or not disinfected, it is alsopossible to provide a more complicated analysis of measuredconcentration over time and a comparison of the measured concentrationagainst dynamically selected thresholds.

More than two states would be possible, for example, to denote differentlevels of disinfection or to denote that longer periods of time mayelapse before another measurement is required.

The length of time before a first measurement is considered stale andanother measurement is required need not be based on an estimate of howlong the ethanol on the skin will be effective, but can be based on anarbitrary period such as every hour.

The degree of accuracy and repeatability of the measurement of ethanolconcentration may be traded with the cost and complexity of thecircuitry needed to do the measurements. In some examples, the goal neednot be to assure that the user's hands are thoroughly disinfected at alltimes. Rather, if the system encourages more frequent and more thoroughcleaning to any noticeable degree, great benefits will result. Thus avery simple system may be quite useful and effective even though it mayallow some users to cheat and may fail to determine the state accuratelyat all times.

Additional lights and displayed words may be used for a variety ofpurposes. The approach of the end of the disinfected period could beindicated by a yellow light to alert the user that a cleaning would soonbe needed.

The lights and LCD display could be supplemented with or replaced byaudible alerts for all functions or some of them.

In some examples, not all of the circuitry need be mounted in a singlebadge. Some of the circuitry could be located in a different piece ofequipment. For example, a sensor used in common by many people may bemounted on a wall and convey (say by wireless communication) themeasured concentration of ethanol to the badge, which would thendetermine the state and indicate that state through lights and on theLCD. By separating the two, the badge could be lower cost, the sensorcould be more complex and accurate, and the sensor could be located atplaces where the disinfectant solution is dispensed. Fewer sensors wouldbe needed.

Each badge could itself be split into two components that communicatewith each other wirelessly or by wire. For example, a sensor modulecould be located in the user's pocket, while the badge contains only thelogic circuitry.

The cleaning agent that is being measured need not be limited to ethanolbut could include combinations of ethanol with other materials or othermaterials in the absence of ethanol; an appropriate sensor for the othermaterials would be used.

The badge could include clips, hook and loop fasteners, chains, pins,ribbons, and belt loops, and other devices to hold the badge on theuser.

The device need not take the form of a badge but could be an ID devicethat attaches to a belt, a lapel, any other article of clothing, andother parts of the body including an arm, a leg, or a neck.

Instead of integrating the badge, sensor, and indicators in one unit,the badge could be an already existing badge of the kind used inhospitals, for example, to identify employees. Such badges often includenames, photographs, and magnetic stripes or bar codes that can be swipedon readers. A shown in FIG. 8, the device 80 could take the form of aholder 82 in which the existing badge 84 could be held. The device wouldthen contain all of the other elements except those that appear on thebadge. Arranging for a separate badge and badge holder has a number ofadvantages. The badge can be removed and used and swiped independentlyof the device. The badge can be replaced separately without requiring areplacement of the device electronics. Existing badge equipment andtechnology can continue to be used. In some examples, the badge could bedesigned to couple electronically to the holder using, for example, RFIDtechnology with an RFID element 85 in the badge and an RFID transceiver87 in the holder. When the badge is placed in the holder, the holderrecognizes the identification of the user and other information.

In some examples, the badge, the holder, and the RFID transceiver 87could be arranged differently. For example, the RFID transceiver couldbe located on a different device worn by the user while the badge couldremain mounted on the holder.

The badge could be powered by photovoltaic cells using ambient lightinstead of a battery.

Although two different lights could be used to indicate the disinfectedand not disinfected conditions, a single light that can change colorcould also be used, saving cost and space.

Because the ethanol sensor has a lifetime that is limited by the numberof test cycles, the badge can include a circuit that counts the numberof tests performed and illuminates a warning light or provides someother indicator when the sensor is reaching the end of its useful life.

Other types of ethanol sensors can be used. One such sensor comprises aceramic chip but is considerably more expensive than the sensorsdescribed earlier.

Although ethanol and an ethanol sensor form the basis of some of theexamples described here, other disinfectants (for example, trichlosan)may also be used provided that effective sensors are available for them.

In general, in addition to triggering a change in state of the badgeafter a period elapses, it is also useful to maintain a count of thenumber of times a person has run a test (sometimes called the number oftaps) using the sensor in a given period of time. The badge can containa counter that keeps track of the number of taps and determines thecount per 24 hours. This number can then be reported to the person'semployer or to regulatory agencies as evidence of good cleanlinesspractices in an institution. For reporting purposes, the number ofcounts can be communicated to a reader by RFID technology, or any othercommunication technique.

The sensor and indicators need not be associated with identificationinformation but could be provided in a device the sole purpose of whichis to measure the concentration and provide an indication of it.

The device can be used in non-health care environments in which handcleanliness is important or expected.

In a health-care environment, the device could be used by anyone who isproviding services as well as by patients and their families or friends.

Information about the frequency, timing, and results of measurementsperformed historically by the user can be stored on the badge.

Many additional functions could be added to the badge by increasing thecapacity of its processor, memory, displaying, communications ability,and user inputs features.

As shown in FIG. 6, in some examples, a monitor 70 could be mounted on awall 72 of a space 74, such as a bathroom. The monitor could contain aradio frequency transceiver 75 that would cooperate with radio frequencyidentification (RFID) elements contained in badges of users. Using RFIDtechnology, when a person wearing a badge passes near to the monitor,the monitor could use RF communication to determine that the person ispresent and to fetch information from the badge about the person'sidentity (and other information as discussed later). The monitor couldalso send an instruction to the badge to cause the badge to reset itselfto the not disinfected state. Communication technologies other than RFIDcould also be used to detect the presence of the user and to communicateinformation between the monitor and the badge or other elements worn bythe user. The element worn by the user could be one that identifies theuser or one that does not identify the user.

When the person wearing the badge enters the bathroom, or any othermonitored space such as a patient room, or a surgical theater, thetriggering device sends a signal to the badge that causes the badge toenter the not disinfected state and light the lamp that indicates thatstate. This triggering will encourage the user to disinfect his handsbefore leaving the bathroom or before proceeding further into themonitored space in order to avoid the social disapproval associated withleaving the bathroom with the red light on. In these examples, thebadge's state could be forced to change to the not disinfected stateregardless of how much time has passed since the most recent successfultest using the badge sensor. The user can be reset to the disinfectedstate by the user cleaning his hands and testing them.

As shown in FIG. 7, a hand cleanliness monitor 70 could include not onlyan ethanol or other sensor 106 but also a presence detector 108 and oneor more indicators 110 of hand cleanliness with respect to one or morepeople who have entered the space. One of the indicators 112, whichcould be broadly visible to people in the space (for example, if it isplaced on an interior wall of a room) or people outside the space (forexample, if it is placed on an interior wall of a room) or both, couldturn from green (indicating that all people in the space are believed tohave disinfected hands) to red when a person is detected as entering thespace. In that case, the red light would indicate to viewers that aperson whose hand cleanliness state is unknown and assumed to be notdisinfected has entered the space.

The person entering the room could cause the light to turn from red backto green by touching the sensor (assuming his hands bear enough ethanolto imply a disinfected condition) or by first cleaning his hands andthen touching the sensor.

In some examples, the monitor could be placed on in interior wall of apatient's room. Whenever anyone enters the room, including health careworkers, the patient, or guests, the monitor would indicate a possiblynot disinfected condition until someone touches the sensor and causesthe red light to turn green. Social pressure of people in the room, whowould observe the red light would help to enforce good cleanlinesshabits on every person entering the room.

The parts of the monitor need not be included in a single integratedwall unit. For example, a portion of the monitor that detects that aperson has entered or left a space could be a separate system, includingan existing system, that would exchange the information with the monitoras needed. The indicators could also be located separately from themonitor to make the lights visible to many people even though themonitor is located near an entrance to or exit from a monitored space.The sensor, too, could be located separately from the monitor. Forexample, the badge sensors could provide the re-test information to themonitor.

In some examples, an entire building could be monitored by providingmonitors on the walls at all entrances to the building. In addition tothe social pressure associated with public display of the notdisinfected condition, an employee or automated gate at each entrancecould require that the person entering either prove that his hands aredisinfected by using the sensor either upon entry or after using adisinfectant available at the entrance.

A variety of spaces could be monitored, including bathrooms (or otherlocations where disinfecting is especially important) and changing areasin hospitals or food processing facilities, for example.

In some examples, the monitor could include circuitry that would detect,in other ways than described above) a presence of one or more peoplewithin a space (whether or not the people have entered or left thespace), would determine a cleanliness state of hands of the peopledetected as present, would include circuitry to report the cleanlinessstate.

A publicly viewable monitor used to indicate the disinfected conditionfor people within a space can facilitate social pressure being appliedby people in a room to people who enter the room even without themonitor having any information about the identity of a person enteringthe room. In addition, the monitor may include or be part of a systemthat includes devices to determine who has entered a space and tocorrelate that information with a person who then uses the sensor toindicate that his hands have been disinfected.

For example, the person entering the room may carry a badge (of the kindissued by a health care facility) that uniquely identifies him andincludes a bar code, a magnetic stripe, an RFID element, or anotherdevice that can be read by a reader 114 (for example, the RF transceiver75 in FIG. 6) that is on the monitor or mounted separately on the wall.Depending on the technology, the user's badge could be read from adistance or be swiped on a reader. When the person enters the room, hispresence and identity are detected. At the time when he successfullycompletes a measurement by the sensor indicating that his hands havebeen disinfected, his identity is read again and compared with theidentities of people who have entered the room and not been determinedto have passed a measurement for disinfected hands. Only when all of thepeople who have entered the room have passed the test will the red lightbe switched to green.

An enterprise could issue temporary identification cards to every personwho enters a building or other space and does not already have anidentification badge for use with the system.

A variety of other techniques could be used to identify the personentering a space, including detection of biometric information (such asa voice print or a finger print or a facial print) or requiring a personto enter an identification code on a keypad 116 on the monitor. Theperson could enter the identification both upon entering the room (insome cases as a trigger for a locked door or other entry gate) and uponpassing a disinfection test using the monitor. In some implementations,it may be possible to identify a person using a fingerprint detectiontechnique at the same location on the monitor and at the same time asthe disinfection test is performed. Other techniques could also be usedto assure that a successful test is accurately correlated to anidentifiable person.

The monitor can also include circuitry that keeps track of how manypeople are in the space (for example, by also detecting when someone hasleft the space). When the oldest successful disinfection test (amongtests that number as many as there are people still in the room)occurred more than a predetermined period (say 2 hours) earlier, themonitor can time out and change the green light to red until someone inthe room successfully tests his hands again.

In these examples, and others, it is possible for people to deceive themonitor, for example, by having one person in the room repeatedly testhis hands positively on behalf of other people in the room. However, asindicated earlier, at least in some examples, the social pressureassociated with the public display of the disinfection state of thespace and the shifting of green to red in certain situations, may besufficient to significantly improve the frequency and quality of handcleaning among people in the space.

Other arrangements could be used to reduce the degree and nature of thedeception that may be possible and to increase the ability of amonitoring system to track and report the performance of identifiedpeople or groups of people in maintaining hand cleanliness. Some sucharrangements would use the unique identifiers associated with differentpeople to track their performance.

For example, the wall monitor could include a processor and software totrack individuals who enter and leave a room based on their uniqueidentifiers and correlate the identities with tests that are performedsuccessfully. The monitor could then control the red light and greenlight based on the successful testing of hand cleanliness by eachindividual in the space at least as often as some pre-specified timeperiod (say every two hours). By including a small display 120 on theface of the monitor, the person whose hand cleanliness requiresre-testing can be identified by name or identifier or some otherindicator. In this way, each of the people in the space can be alertedfrom time to time of the need to re-clean, and re-test and everyone inthe space can know who needs to do so.

Such a monitor could be used in conjunction and cooperation with wornbadges, for example, of the kind discussed earlier. For example, usingRFID or wireless or other kinds of communication capability in themonitor and at least some badges, the monitor and the badge couldcommunicate, exchange information, control actions, and make reports,all in a wide variety of ways.

In a simple example, the monitor could cause the light on a badge toswitch from red to green at the same time (or different times) as thelights are switched on the monitor, to indicate to others in the spacewhich person in the space needs to re-clean and re-test. A successfultest performed on the badge can be reported to the monitor for use, forexample, in the same way that a test on the monitor would be used.Conversely, the monitor can report to a badge a successful (orunsuccessful test) performed on the monitor by the owner of the badge.More generally, the badges and monitors in one or more spaces cancontinually be synchronized to store common information about tests bythe owner of the badge and to cause common indications of thecleanliness state of the badge owner to be given by both the monitor andthe badge.

As a person moves around in a building that has more than one monitoredspace, the monitors and the badges will together in that way maintaincurrent information and provide current indications of the cleanlinessstate of the badge owner.

As shown in FIG. 9, although this co-operative maintenance ofinformation and reporting can be done informally and by ad hoc action ofdifferent pairs of badges and monitors over time through a building,additional functions and better performance may be achieved by arrangingfor a portion or all of the monitors 130 in a building 132 or campus ofbuildings 134 to be interconnected by a wired or wireless communicationnetwork on a peer-to-peer basis or with the co-operation or control of acentral server 136 or a distributed set of central servers 136, 138,140. The central server or servers may be servers already used for afacility to provide communication and manage the control of other kindsof devices scattered throughout the facility or the reporting ofinformation from other kinds of devices.

The monitors, the badges, and/or the central server or servers mayinclude memory or mass storage 144 that contains a database 146 or otherorganized information about the permanently or temporarily registeredpeople who have access to a building or space. The database can storeinformation that is associated with individuals and information that isstatistically relate to groups and subgroups of the individuals.

In some implementations, an individual badge can maintain a smalldatabase of information about a complete history of an individual'scleanliness testing beginning at the time when the badge was firstissued, or at some later time. Or a rolling set of data ending at thecurrent time may be kept. The data may catalog every instance when theuser tested the cleanliness of his hands, the result, the time of thetest, and the parameter values that were produced by the sensor in thetesting. When the badge is able to communicate with monitors indifferent spaces or subspaces, the badge database may also track theplaces in which each of the tests was performed, which other people werepresent in the space when the tests were performed, and otherinformation. Information in the badge database can be uploaded to one ormore monitors using the communication links to the monitors, or may beuploaded from the badges directly to a central server using specialbadge readers located in one or more places in the facility.

Each monitor can maintain a database of information using informationfrom badges of people with whom the monitor has interacted andinformation from other monitors in other spaces (for example, contiguousspaces). The database of a monitor could track every time a person hasentered a monitored space and every time she has left the space. Thedata could include the time of entry, the time of exit, the space inwhich the user was most recently monitored, the time between entry intothe space and when a re-test was performed, the results of the re-test,the number of re-tests performed in the room, the identities of otherpeople in the room at the time of re-test, and a wide variety of otherinformation.

If a person leaves a monitored space 131 and enters a monitored space132, the monitors in the two spaces could be arranged to communicate sothat the monitor in space 132 need not require a re-test if a re-testhad been done in space 131 within a pre-specified earlier period.

When the monitors and/or badges are networked with a central server, thecentral server can use information provided from the monitors and/orbadges to track the overall cleanliness testing activity of all of themonitored people in all spaces that are networked.

The central server could maintain a database 134 that could includedetailed historical information and statistical summaries ofinformation. The information could track every time any of the monitoredpeople enters or leaves a monitored space, the number of times and thetimes at which re-testing has been done, the results of each re-test,the routes of the people moving through the building or campus, whetherthe people are wearing their badges, whether they used their badges orthe wall monitors to re-test cleanliness, and a wide variety of otherinformation.

The central server can use software 140 running on the server or serversto analyze information stored in the central database or the databasesof one or more of the badges or the monitors. The analyses can addressthe performance of different groups on cleanliness, the correlation ofcleanliness to location, the correlation of demographics (age, gender,geographic location) with cleanliness, the impact of training,monitoring, and other actions on the cleanliness performance, and timedependent changes by individuals, groups, and subgroups of cleanlinessperformance.

In addition to monitoring and analyzing information about cleanlinessperformance the central service can provide reports that are useful toor required by the party that operates the building or campus, otherinstitutions, liability carriers, and governmental bodies that regulatecertain aspects of the performance of the party and the individualsemployed by the party. For example, governmental agencies may requirehospitals to assure that hospital employees are disinfecting their handsmore often than a certain number of times a day and to report failuresto meet that requirement. Reports may also be given to individuals beingmonitored to groups of individuals, to their supervisors, and to others.Reporting to individuals can be done by email. For example, a doctor whois not disinfecting his hands often enough would periodically be sent anautomatic email urging him to improve his cleanliness practices.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An apparatus to be carried or worn by aperson, the apparatus comprising: an electronic sensor to perform areading on the person's hands to determine a cleanliness state of theperson's hands; and an element separate from the electronic sensor tocommunicate information associated with the person to the electronicsensor, in which the element contains a storage device configured tostore information associated with the person about at least one ofplaces in which cleanliness tests were performed, and which other peoplewere present in a space when the tests were performed.
 2. The apparatusof claim 1, in which the storage device is coupled to the electronicsensor to store information about cleanliness measurements performed bythe person using the electronic sensor.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, inwhich the information includes a unique identifier of the person thatcan be read electronically.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3, in which theelement is configured to communicate the unique identifier in order toallow the person access to a building or space.
 5. The apparatus ofclaim 1, in which the electronic sensor is part of a badge holder andthe element is part of a badge that can be placed in the badge holderand removed from the badge holder by a user.
 6. The apparatus of claim1, in which the element further comprises a wearable identificationbadge.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the element communicatesinformation to a second element located on a wall mount.
 8. Theapparatus of claim 1, in which the element comprises RFID technology. 9.The apparatus of claim 1, in which the element comprises a wirelesstransmitter or transceiver.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, in which theelement comprises a wireless radiofrequency transmitter or transceiver.11. An apparatus to be carried or worn by a person, the apparatuscomprising: a sensor to perform a reading on the person's hands todetermine a cleanliness state of the person's hands, to be mechanicallydetachable to an element that is also to be carried or worn by theperson, and to obtain from the element information associated with theperson; and circuitry to count a number of times a person has run acleanliness test using the sensor and compare the number of timescleanliness tests have been run using the sensor to a number of totaltest cycles.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, in which the elementcontains a storage device configured to store information associatedwith the person.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, in which the storagedevice is coupled to the sensor to store information about cleanlinessmeasurements performed by the person using the electronic sensor. 14.The apparatus of claim 11, also including a communication circuit tocommunicate the counted number of times a person has run a cleanlinesstest wirelessly for reporting to a third party.
 15. The apparatus ofclaim 14, in which the communication circuit comprises a radio frequencycommunication circuit.
 16. The apparatus of claim 11 also including anindicator to signal when the sensor is reaching the end of its usefullife.
 17. The apparatus of claim 11, in which the electronic sensorcomprises a biometric detection device.
 18. The apparatus of claim 11,in which the information comprises a unique identifier for the person.